Month: February 2005

Sectaurs

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The Sectaurs were a toy in the 1980s- they were action figures who were part man, part insect. The best ones, the leaders of the good and evil teams, had giant flying insects they rode. The mounts were mostly made of a glove you wore on your hand- your fingers became the legs of the giant dragonfly or spider. As I recall the bad guys all had spiders; a spider with wings in the case of General whatever. The ones with wings had a battery in them, you’d flip a small switch and the wings would beat while you moved your hand around, pretending it was flying. The little plastic man would ride your hand through the air.
Web link of note: Sectaurs
(At http://www.sectaurs.org/)

Meadowood Industries

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Meadowood Industries Inc manufactures unique decorative and structural boards, panels, and molded products, primarily from annually renewable Oregon ryegrass to provide alternative or green building materials from sustainable agriculture. These products combine technology with nature to provide beautiful decorative items that are very functional.  Uses include interior design and architectural elements as accent walls, ceilings, room dividers, and tackboards or as components for cabinets, furniture, display fixtures, plaques, clocks and custom designs. 

Web link of note: Meadowood Industries
(At http://www.meadowoodindustries.com/)

Chinese New Year

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新年快乐
Gung Hei Fat Choy
Kung Hei Fat Choy
Going xi fa cai!

It’s Chinese New Year today, and I realized I don’t really know that much about it. So I interrogated my Chinese-American friends… who weren’t much better!

There are, as would be expected, similarities to the Japanese New Year (お正月 = おしょうがつ = o-shogatsu).

Actually, for the record, John is Korean… he was reporting on his girlfriend’s family, which is Chinese.

BRAIN: what chinese goodies are important now?
like during the moon festival you can get moon cake

CHIA: red envelopes for new year
bamboo leaf wrapped rice thing that celebrates some poet killing himself

JOHN: You eat these veggies that look like long black hair. Not beautiful silky hair, but the wet hair that girl from the Ring had.

JOHN: the hair thing is for long life.

JOHN: you also eat lettuce for money.

CHIA: you’re supposed to have fish at some point

CHIA: maybe i should wear red today

Rhys was a lot less lame:

RHYS: hm, well, in Hong Kong at least, the names of the dishes are homophonic with lucky things… like “dai lay” means big tongue, or big fortune. So a traditional (don’t know how far back this tradition goes….maybe 19th century cantonese?) dish would be something to do with pig’s tongues.

RHYS: “ho see” is good business/market, and it’s also the same as ‘dried oysters’ so the cantonese eat those.

RHYS: “fat choy” is luck and fortune, but it’s also the same as hair fungus.
RHYS: so you have a dish with that

RHYS: then everyone has the dried and candied lotus seeds and lotus roots and melon seeds.

RHYS: candied kumquats… i honestly don’t know [more] then, good stuff. like our thanksgiving meal. you’ve got the staples, and then other good banquety items

RHYS: then there is the red envelopes, of course. do you have a clear idea of how they work?

RHYS: it’s a tradition that is tied to the house visits that you do from the 1st to the 15th of the month: you’re supposed to visit everyone you know during those 15 days

RHYS: the going rate for random kids of acquantances you don’t know at all is probably $3-5.

RHYS: generally, you receive until you get married, or until you’re too ashamed to be flaunting your singleness. Then you start giving to children and single people. But keep in mind people are “supposed” to get married as 22 year olds or younger

From a CHINESE NEW YEAR page:

  • Lotus seed – signify having many male offspring

  • Ginkgo nut – represents silver ingots

  • Black moss seaweed – is a homonym for exceeding in wealth
  • Dried bean curd is another homonym for fulfillment of wealth and happiness

  • Bamboo shoots – is a term which sounds like “wishing that everything would be well”
  • Fresh bean curd or tofu is not included as it is white and unlucky for New Year as the color signifies death and misfortune

Other foods include a whole fish, to represent togetherness and abundance, and a chicken for prosperity. The chicken must be presented with a head, tail and feet to symbolize completeness. Noodles should be uncut, as they represent long life.

Ursula Rucker: Circe

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On Groove Salad, a on-line ambient station I listen to on iTunes, has a relatively short playlist… much like commercial radio.

One of the pieces I recognize is Ursula Rucker – Circe (Jazzanova remix)
(heard in “King Britt feat. Ursula Rucker – Circe (Jazzanova remix)”) which is a spoken-word / poetry piece set to ambient music.

For a retro feel I should get a beret and angrily scribble things in a notebook while sipping bitter expensive Italian coffee.

Actually I’m pretty close to that anyway. How about a blog instead of the notebook? No beret though.

I´ve watched you for so long,
I must have you.

Sirens have nothing on my song,
my song is ageless
and perfect.
Angels envy my song,
you must be strong,
to resist this

I´ve seduced men, You thought were myth.

Gods have murdered mortals over me,
they died with my name on their lips
my tastes, on their tounges.

My love is the only one…
You need

Come rest your earthly burdens on my breasts,
You´ll find them firm like virgin,
Irresistible, like goddess.
My breasts are filled with neptune´s nectar,
one sip and you´ll be mine.

I´ll sink into your sea soft skin
were your fantasy begins

Don’t fight, You´ll never win.

I know,
My hair is mesmerizing.
It reflects the colors of suns rising
and set,
You´ll never forget my wet,
wonder…

come under.

My kiss will keep you safe,
what seem to you like minutes
In my world are endless days,
ride my waves,
of pleasure…

forever.

Your human hands like magic
pull on coral strands
as our bodies melt into the sands of the ocean floor,
I´m deep into your love

But wait,
my seduction
has now become a dangerous attraction.

I can´t breathe,
I´m drowning in your love,
drowning…
save me,
I can´t breathe.
I..
I can´t breathe.
I’ve got to save myself.
I´m losing myself in your love…
I’ve pleasured all of you so many times.
One of you.. please save me.
I´m drowning…
Who…
Who are you?
And…
And why are you saving me?
He said:

I´ve loved you from afar with a child´s heart
and a man´s longing,
I know you better than you know yourself.
Better than any man, myth or immortal.

I´ve watched you seduce for centuries
In the search for a creature who could please,
you

fire your desires,
who could have never made you happy
you would have died in this world.
too cruel
too cold

I´ve waited for this moment
to swim off into the current with,
you

Don´t be afraid,
your search is over.
That´s all you need to know

swim with me

off into the current.
swim with me,
love with me.

don´t be afraid,
swim with me.
love with me.

Shinto & Japanese Buddhist Art Reference

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By Mark Schumacher– I first found this looking for information on kappa ( 河童 ), but I like the “BUDDHISM Deity Classification” he’s written.

KAPPA — River Imp or Sprite (Shinto)
Kappa also called Kawatarou 河太郎
Kawako 河伯 or Kawaranbe 河ランベ
Gatarou がたろう or Enkou 猿猴
One of many Japanese Suijin

Web link of note: Shinto & Japanese Buddhist Art Reference
(At http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/buddhism.shtml)

Strip your own bones

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You ever wonder how they get animal skeletons in museums so nice and white? It looks a lot better than the turkey after Thanksgiving.

The preferred method of skeletonization these days it “dermestids” – a carrion-eating beetle. Museums keep colonies of these things.

The best / most disgusting part of this: in order to grow a colony, you start with a few beetles, and give them an entire animal head to clean. They eat the brain, and the population explodes.

When you have less “work” for them, you just stop feeding them. The population dies down to a lower level.

  • The Boneroom, the only shop I know of where you can walk in and get bones from pretty much anything.
  • get your own “starter kit” of dermestids!
  • Or buy from here, “Derestids, Inc.” Awesome.
  • A look behind the scenes at the Museum of Texas Tech University … into their dermestid colony. Look at all the racks of boxes. Pretty crazy.
  • Another behind the scenes look, this one from University of Michigan.

Hagakure

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Along with Book of Five Spheres, the definitive book of samurai philosophy.

Keep in mind that while Musashi (author of Book of Five Spheres) was basically the biggest badass of all time, Yamamoto Sensei (the author of Hagakure) was essentially a crotchety, retiring samurai, trying to revive the Golden Age when the samurai took their honor a little more seriously.

Good times, good times.

Web link of note: Hagakure
(At http://split-kitty.com/misc/Hagakure/)